Flyers' Sunday best salvages a big point (copy)

PHILADELPHIA — Let the record show it officially as a loss, but given the way it ended for the Flyers, Sunday’s setback came strictly out of a silver linings playbook.

When a rally produces a tie with 24.1 seconds to play and salvages a point in this tight playoff race, it’s a definite positive.

Especially when it’s against the No. 1 team in hockey, the Boston Bruins, in a game featuring a Flyer season-high 52 shots.

The Flyers really did show off their Sunday best in a dogfight of a game on national television.

Although they lost the game 4-3 in a shootout (2-1) at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers gained a moral victory on several fronts — demonstrating once again that, following recent wins over Pittsburgh, Chicago and St. Louis, they can stay with the big guys and that they continue to show resilience at crunch time.

Vinny Lecavalier provided the last-minute heroics.

After scoring his 400th NHL goal in the first period, Lecavalier converted a Jake Voracek set-up past Tuukka Rask to knot the game at 3-3.

Reilly Smith finally ended the 10-round shootout with a goal past Steve Mason but the Flyers still got a rousing ovation from a sellout crowd on Fan Appreciation Day.

The point temporarily moves the Flyers into a tie for second place in the Metro Division with the New York Rangers, who played at Edmonton on Sunday night.

There were few frowns or negative comments in the Flyers’ dressing room after this one.

Considering that Boston hasn’t lost a road game in regulation time since Jan. 9 (including a current franchise-record nine straight road wins) and is 14-0-2 in its last 16 games, the Flyers had to be pleased with the effort, a much better one than in a 6-1 drubbing by the Bruins on Jan. 25.

It was a physical game, with the teams combining for a whopping 87 hits (44 Boston, 43 Flyers).

Scott Hartnell liked the grit the Flyers displayed in rallying late. The Flyers entered the third period trailing by a 3-2 score, and the Bruins entered the game 39-2 when leading after two periods.

“I think everyone left everything on the ice,’’ Hartnell said. “It’s a good team over there. Obviously, they have been hot the last 15-20 games. We battled hard to get that point. You never know when that point could be the difference between home ice and not.’’

Coach Craig Berube is usually a tough marker but he saw some positives in this one.

“I thought our team competed real hard,’’ Berube said. “They had an attitude today that they were going to show them (the Bruins) something, and I thought that they did.

“I know the outcome wasn’t what we wanted but we attacked ... you have to compete real hard against that team or you’re in trouble.’’

Captain Claude Giroux remembers what it was like at the beginning of the season when there were some real train wrecks. Even though this was not a win, he liked the attitude of his team.

“At this time of the year, sometimes it doesn’t matter, the result,’’ he said. “It’s how you feel as a team, and I think we’re pretty happy with how we played, with the effort.’’

Asked if he took more positives than negatives from this game, Giroux said: “Yeah, I think we have to. The way we played, it was a team effort. Everybody was playing great.’’

Lecavalier continued his recent inspired play by wristing a 25-foot shot past Rask at 5:25 of the first. After ex-Flyer defenseman Andrej Meszaros returned the favor with a similar shot at 10:43, Kimmo Timonen’s shot put the Flyers back in front at 19:18.

The Bruins came out strong in the second period, getting a power-play goal from Zdeno Chara at 5:44 and an even-strength goal from Patrice Bergeron at 11:05.

But the Flyers weren’t done.

With Mason out of the net, Lecavalier took advantage of Voracek’s whip-around feed across the goal mouth.

That’s the way it stayed until Smith finally ended the shootout.

Lecavalier has been in this game for 15 years and knows a committed group of players when he sees one.

“Yeah I’ve always said that about this team since I first got here,’’ he said. “Even in training camp, these guys in here never give up.

“I’ve played with a lot of players in my career and I can tell ... guys are hungry. It doesn’t matter, some games are down 3-0 or whatever the score is, and they just keep coming. We keep rolling. We keep going. It shows the character in this room, and I think it has helped us a lot this year.”

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